Clearly, The Surge Is Working. It seems obvious that pretty soon now, probably in six months or so, the situation will have stabilized enough for the Iraqi government to make Real Progress towards Political Solutions to the violence, allowing them to Step Up So That We Can Step Down.

And, if six months from now we haven't seen Real Progress, well, we'll Know More six months after that, at which point it will be The Democrats Fault.

Mission Accomplished!

They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.

Talk to me again in six months, at which time we'll will set a time to explore the timetable, possibly within six months. And once the timetable is finalized, sometime within the following six months after that, we'll have our plan to Congress within six months.

I hereby christen the term SixMonths to describe ANY government situation where the "wait and see" reflex overcomes the calculator tape and poll numbers.

Talk to me again in six months, at which time we'll will set a time to explore the timetable, possibly within six months. And once the timetable is finalized, sometime within the following six months after that, we'll have our plan to Congress within six months.

I hereby christen the term SixMonths to describe ANY government situation where the "wait and see" reflex overcomes the calculator tape and poll numbers.

Actually, those are called FU's, or Friedman Units as we like to call them.

"The selfishness of Ayn Rand capitalism is the equivalent of intellectual masturbation -- satisfying in an ego-stroking way, but an ethical void when it comes to our commonly shared humanity."

Getting your children killed in the crossfire for payment has been done in Afghanistan because we write the checks.
$2000 goes a long way, and the children are martyrs.

Still, we do more than any modern army in the world to prevent civilian casualties.

I very much doubt that.

For a very close example, the Brits invested much more in developing Arabic skills for the troops than that US did, in order to be less reliant on interpreters and to be able to build trust with the locals. This has the primary effect of cutting down communication error and the easily avoidable conflict that results from it, but also affects the mindset on both sides. People don't generally grow to care very much about people they can't communicate with.

Many of the armies that would hold low civilian casualties as a higher priority than the US does do not get sent to war that often.

If you want to fight a war in the midst of a civilian populace while saving that populace, that means practically no air strikes or indirect fire. You have to go in and handle business manually. That means taking some casualties - it's unavoidable in close combat even if you have superior training, equipment and control. When you look at the causes of death of US personnel, it's IED, accident, IED, IED, accident, etc. It's very obvious that when US commanders expect a real fight instead of random house-clearing, they err on the side of leveling the place to take minimal casualties. Nothing wrong with that as such, it's a valid strategy, but that isn't how you protect civilians. You can't both have your cake and eat it.

I was referring to the fact that US taxpayers now buy neat, shiny laser-guided bombs to help avoid civilian casualties, and to help in the shortening of conflicts. We do a lot that we really don't have to in furtherance of minimizing civilian death and injury. Compared to how our enemies operate (with little value for innocents) I'd say we are doing quite well by comparison. It would be much cheaper to go after targets Dresden-style... but we don't do that- we use very expensive technologies to minimize civilian losses.

... and yes, the best way for people to not get killed in wars is not to go to war in the first place.
Until the global totalitarian army is in place, there will be war. No way around it. Just like Einstein said.

I was referring to the fact that US taxpayers now buy neat, shiny laser-guided bombs to help avoid civilian casualties, and to help in the shortening of conflicts. We do a lot that we really don't have to in furtherance of minimizing civilian death and injury. Compared to how our enemies operate (with little value for innocents) I'd say we are doing quite well by comparison. It would be much cheaper to go after targets Dresden-style... but we don't do that- we use very expensive technologies to minimize civilian losses.

... and yes, the best way for people to not get killed in wars is not to go to war in the first place.
Until the global totalitarian army is in place, there will be war. No way around it. Just like Einstein said.

Civilians killed; guess as long as we get some bad guys, too, then it's all OK. Blackwater is going to share the hotwater with the US military soon.

Shortened conflict? How long has the US been in Iraq? Remind me, when did we see that banner that read, "Mission Accomplished"?

Conflicts will be shorter because a conventional opponents' military abilities will be decimated MUCH quicker with precision weaponry. You are mixing the formal Iraqi army war with the guerilla insurgency. They are two different animals. We're still MUCH more conservative than Serbs, Israelis, etc when it comes to urban combat.

Flex that big noodle of yours- weapons kill people and break things, and yes, even shiny things will cause unintended effects. But much much less than, say, carpet bombing a neighborhood to get at one house.

The Coalition Provisional Authority issued CPA Order No. 2, it disbanding the Iraqi army in favor of building a completely new force. The action takes many coalition troops by surprise. They had to scratch plans they had for reconstruction that involved getting help from an Iraqi military.

...

"The problem with Order No. 2 was it did absolutely nothing to deal with all of these Iraqi young men who had suddenly been thrown out not only of the military, but Iraq's military- and security-related industries, which were some of the few industries which had been fully funded by Saddam Hussein."
Anthony Cordesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies

These soldiers returned as the insurgency we fight now. They split and grew into sectarian hydra, therefore building in size as more young men followed suit. Mission [not] Accomplished.

BAGHDAD, Oct. 12 Fresh accounts of the Blackwater shooting last month, given by three rooftop witnesses and by American soldiers who arrived shortly after the gunfire ended, cast new doubt Friday on statements by Blackwater guards that they were responding to armed insurgents when Iraqi investigators say 17 Iraqis were killed at a Baghdad intersection.

The three witnesses, Kurds on a rooftop overlooking the scene, said they had observed no gunfire that could have provoked the shooting by Blackwater guards. American soldiers who arrived minutes later found shell casings from guns used normally by American contractors, as well as by the American military.

The Kurdish witnesses are important because they had the advantage of an unobstructed view and because, collectively, they observed the shooting at Nisour Square from start to finish, free from the terror and confusion that might have clouded accounts of witnesses at street level. Moreover, because they are pro-American, their accounts have a credibility not always extended to Iraqi Arabs, who have been more hostile to the American presence.

Could the State Department be covering up again?

Quote:

Their statements, made in interviews with The New York Times, appeared to challenge a State Department account that a Blackwater vehicle had been disabled in the shooting and had to be towed away. Since those initial accounts, Blackwater and the State Department have consistently refused to comment on the substance of the case.

The Kurdish witnesses said that they saw no one firing at the guards at any time during the event, an observation corroborated by the forensic evidence of the shell casings. Two of the witnesses also said all the Blackwater vehicles involved in the shooting drove away under their own power.

Even worse,

Quote:

Finally there was a pause of a few seconds in the shooting as the Blackwater convoy prepared to leave, he said. Then, Mr. Waso said with a look of disbelief on his face, at least one Blackwater guard began firing again, this time at a red bus full of people on the western rim of the square.

The glass was all broken, Mr. Waso said, struggling to describe the bus after the firing resumed. Women and children, all of them were shouting and crying.

Some of the people who survived in the bus were tended to later at the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan building, he said.

After that last burst of gunfire in the square, Mr. Waso said, all four of the Blackwater vehicles left. As far as he could see, they drove away under their own power, he said.

The corporate media's crying its crocodile tears now... See token piece here:
And the FBI questioning Blackwater people in Iraq about it? Thats like the Mafia investigating the Genovese family. The FBI are on the same side as Blackwater ffs! Can't we ever get a real investigation of anything these days? I guess not.

We the public deserve an honest complete review of the facts with scientific interpretation and implications as to what really happened on 9/11. Bill Binney, Former senior technical director, NSA.

There's no question that Israel's army is modern. I know Serbs used old gear in their last war because that's what they had, but you don't need to have all new stuff to be effective, or to be modern for that matter.

We'd field a lot of old stuff too if it came to that, but we have a quite modern army nevertheless.

Blackwater is also planning to establish regional training centers in Potrero, California and Mount Carroll, Illinois, billed as Blackwater West and Blackwater North, respectively.

These training centers, in addition to Blackwater's Lodge and Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina -- Blackwater East -- and a possible fourth rumored to be slated for the Pacific Northwest -- Blackwater Northwest -- may result in the establishment of a network of Blackwater-trained police, sheriffs, and other police units around the country. Given Blackwater's dismal record on human rights and brutality, this spells trouble for civilian control of police and paramilitary forces in the United States, from major metropolitan areas to small rural towns.

Totalitarian regimes always need a Gestapo.

Looks like another giant leap towards fascism for the US and a giant leap backward for everyone else in the civilized world.

Is someone going to actually stop these goons or are the American people just going to take it?

What is Faith? When your good deed pleases you and your evil deed grieves you, you are a believer. What is Sin? When a thing disturbs the peace of your heart, give it up - Prophet Muhammad

Time for Iraq to take control and let's see if the US can actually take it... and swallow Iraqi justice.

This idea that the 'surge' is the reason for the closing down Alqaida in Iraq - I'm sorry you are all misled. Iraqi's have had enough of Alqaida and are dealing with them. Woudl have been done early IMHO just US in the way. Finally of course it is well known alqaida types woudl be no where near Iraq if it wasn't for the invasion in the first place.

Baghdad: Iraqi Interior Ministry sources have said that American and British security firms have started to leave Iraq.

"We have information from Baghdad airport saying that 90 to 120 individuals working for the private security firm, Blackwater, are leaving Baghdad every day in an American military aircraft, this is in addition to more than 44 personnel from the UK-based Olive Group who left Iraq last week," Colonel Arkan Adnan, an Iraqi officer at the Interior Ministry told Gulf News.

Some Sunni and Shiite armed groups have declared that the forthcoming days will witness vindictive operations against all foreign private security convoys as revenge against the lives of innocent Iraqis who were killed by personnel working for these firms. Four Blackwater personnel were killed in the Sunni-dominated city of Fallujah, east of Baghdad, three years ago.

The North Carolina firm is also under scrutiny after several violent incidents involving its contractors, including the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in a September incident. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that FBI agents found at least 14 of those shootings were unjustified.

Continuing State Department coverup?

Quote:

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The State Department's top investigator recused himself on Wednesday from probes into the Blackwater security firm after discovering -- during a break in a congressional hearing -- that his brother was connected with the company.

Krongard contacted his brother after Democratic lawmakers waved e-mails showing Blackwater had invited him to be on the company's advisory board and attend a meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, this week.

Several current and former staffers from Krongard's office said he threatened investigators with retaliation if they cooperated with Waxman's probe. Krongard is also accused of telling the staff not to cooperate with the Justice Department, and impeding investigations into alleged arms smuggling by Blackwater and construction problems with a massive new U.S. embassy in Baghdad.